HUMAN PLAY-NET

At a time when the state of Uttar Pradesh is making headlines for various highways projects, including the completed and under-construction expressways, the UP Public Works Department has also undertaken a number of initiatives related to road construction and otherwise in its bid to pitch in for the cause of state’s development. In a recent interaction with outgoing Principal Secretary of Public Works Department , Nitin Ramesh Gokarn , ETGovernment tried to know about their initiatives, understand how the department is going to make up for the man-days lost to the pandemic, technology adoption for faster execution of the projects and much more.   Having served as Principal Secretary of the Public Works Department for over three years from 27th June 2019 to 1st May 2022, Gokarn took over the charge of Principal Secretary, Housing and Urban Planning Department on 1st May 2022.   Edited excerpts:   How would you describe the present roads and highways scenario in Uttar Prad...

Of late, Infrastructure Investment Trust or InvIT is increasingly becoming a popular term that refers to a financial device for funding infrastructure projects, mostly in the roads and highways sector, so far. But not many would know that they can also contribute to the cause of nation building by investing in InvITs to help create infrastructure, besides getting good returns on their investment. As one hears of InvIT, some natural concerns come to mind: Would the financial instrument be a better and safer investment proposition for small investors, compared to the traditional ones? How does the trust operate? Whether the concept is here to stay or will it wither away over the next few years’ time? ET Infra  sought to seek answers to these and other related questions during an interaction with  Nitan Chhatwal ,  Managing Director,   Shrem InvIT , a private investment trust that holds a bouquet of 24 road assets across five states, among other projects. Excerpts: You ...

The Union Budget 2022-23 has duly recognised the infrastructure sector as the driver of economic growth by earmarking nearly Rs 10 lakh crore for the sector. But that alone may not suffice. Under several models of infrastructure creation, including Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM), financial institutions play a crucial role by chipping in to fill the funding gap. In an interaction with  ET Infra ,  Rajinder Babbar, Business Head - Transportation, Infrastructure & Tractor Finance, HDFC Bank , elaborates on the segments of infrastructure sector where his bank extends financial support, the extent of such financing and, of course, the age-old issue of loans turning NPAs that financial institutions have to live with. Excerpts: Congratulations on your new assignment. As the head of important verticals like infrastructure and commercial vehicles, what would be your strategy to push the infra lending business forward? Thank You. Infrastructure and commercial vehicles are pillars of any...

In what could be a big push to the efforts of electric vehicle adoption in the country, Niti Aayog plans to roll out a battery swapping policy for EVs in the next three to four months, according to a media report. As per the proposed policy, a buyer would not be required to purchase the vehicle’s battery, which currently accounts for nearly 40 per cent of an EV’s cost, since the Aayog intends to put in place the ‘battery-as-a-service’ (BaaS) model. "I am confident that electric vehicles will be cheaper than ICE engine vehicles in the near future,” NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant was quoted as saying in an ET report on Saturday. This is in line with the announcement made by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in this regard during the Budget presentation. She had said a battery swapping policy for electric vehicle charging would be framed soon. Apart from a substantial cut in the cost of EVs, introduction of this model would also lay to rest the owners’ range anxiety and the worr...

Amid vociferous expectations from different segments of the infrastructure sector, the industry awaits with bated breath the pronouncements Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman would make during the Union Budget presentation on Tuesday. Given the mountain of hopes that the infra sector sits on, and the tightrope walk that the government needs to do between meeting the industry expectations and setting the pandemic-scarred economy on the right course, it remains anybody’s guess how far the FM would be able to live up to the expectations of the sector. However, experts across the spectrum feel that budgetary allocations going up for roads, highways and railway sector, among others, is almost a certainty. In the last two years, the Covid-19 outbreak triggered lockdowns across the country, playing havoc with the economy, with most sectors witnessing a slowdown. The government was also forced to tighten its purse strings to curtail diverse expenditures to divert the same towards meeting the ...

Robust infrastructure is a pre-requisite for national development, economic growth and improving the lives of citizens. That being the reason, creation and expansion of infrastructure, like roads and highways, railways network, ports and logistics, and waste management mechanism, has always been at the centre of economic activities. However, following the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns slowed down the construction activities for various reasons, including shortage of workforce, lack of demand and of course shrinking of funds availability, among others. It was only following various timely interventions from the government that the economic activities started picking up as the pandemic went on the wane. But, in the wake of the emergence of Omicron variant of Covid towards 2021-end and possibilities of more such variants impacting various businesses in the days ahead, infrastructure sector players look forward to more provisions for them in the Union Budget 2022. ...